On October 1, 2014, the ICD-9 code sets used to report medical diagnoses and inpatient procedures will be replaced by ICD-10 code sets. This opens a door full of questions for the medical community—most specifically, are patient care organizations fully prepared to make the change? With the ICD-10 compliance extension delayed until next year, health systems across the country have shifted into the “re-planning” stage. And not surprisingly, the complexity of re-planning is enormous and intimidating for many organizations. Cindy Hegner, medical practice manager at AnaPath Diagnostics, a Cheyenne, Wyo.-based independent pathology laboratory is an American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) certified coder and approved ICD-10 trainer in her organization who recently spoke with HCI Assistant Editor Rajiv Leventhal about preparing for ICD-10, the industry’s readiness, and challenges medical practices will face in the upcoming months. Below are excerpts from that interview.
There is a thought that the industry isn’t ready for the transition to ICD-10. Is this something you agree with?
That’s a tough question. I know AHIMA believes that a lot of the little hospitals are not ready for ICD-10. I do agree with that. When Medicare reported a one year delay, everyone who prepared-including us-was ready to go on October 1, 2013. But my smaller clients—such as ones in rural Wyoming with only one or two doctors—did not have the training in place for ICD-10. But the majority of the hospitals in Wyoming were ready. When the deadline was delayed, it affected the effectiveness of the education that had been provided. You don’t want to start ICD-10 training too soon, because it’s so different from ICD-9. You can’t compare the two of them together; it just doesn’t work that way. The decision to delay the transition to ICD-10 made a lot of hospitals who were ready say, “now what do we do for a year?” And the answer is that you have to start your training again, because like with anything else, if you don’t use it, you lose it. But I’m positive this date will stick-it won’t move again. Many organizations think it will be extended, but I keep telling them that it won’t be.
What is your organization doing to prepare for ICD-10?
In the next three months, I’m going to start doing
